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Padres-Tribe opener rained out; DH Wednesday

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By Jordan Bastian
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MLB.com |

CLEVELAND -- The Indians are no stranger to inclement weather, but that does not make things any less frustrating for the club in the first week of the season. For the second time in the past seven days, Cleveland has had a game postponed due to rain.

With a steady rain falling on Progressive Field, and no clear window to play, the Indians' night game against the Padres was called Monday. The teams are scheduled to make up the contest as part of a traditional doubleheader Wednesday, beginning at 12:05 p.m. ET. The second game will start roughly 20 minutes after the first contest.

Indians starter Corey Kluber might be on the receiving end of some jokes from his teammates, considering he was the scheduled starter last Tuesday, when the Tribe's road game against the A's was postponed due to rain. It marked the first rainout at the Coliseum since 1998.

"I don't know if you can blame this one on Klubes," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "It seems like there's always a pitcher, though, that catches it."

Similar to the current situation, Cleveland and Oakland played a split doubleheader last Wednesday.

Rather than squeeze a game into the schedule later in the season, the Indians and Padres felt it made the most sense to make the game up during the current series. Under the Interleague format, San Diego is only scheduled to make one trip to Cleveland this season, complicating the timing of a makeup date later this year.

This represents San Diego's first trip to Cleveland since 2008.

"This is obviously the only time we're going to play San Diego," Francona said. "So it makes sense to play and not have them flying back on another day off. It's too easy to put it off until later. Then, all of a sudden you look, and there's a lot of laters. I think making it up now makes sense."

Kluber is scheduled to take the mound for the Indians on Tuesday and right-hander Zach McAllister will have his start pushed to Wednesday for the first of the two scheduled games. Francona indicated that Cleveland would likely promote a pitcher from the Minor Leagues to start Wednesday's second game.

The Indians have not announced who will come up for that outing, but Wednesday is Triple-A Columbus right-hander Trevor Bauer's scheduled day to start. Bauer and right-hander Josh Tomlin would presumably be the top two candidates to take the mound for the Indians in that game.

Fans holding tickets for Monday's game, and hoping to attend Wednesday's doubleheader, must exchange their ticket at the Progressive Field box office. All tickets for Wednesday will include two games for the cost of one. Fans unable to attend Wednesday can exchange their tickets -- subject to availability -- for many of the remaining home games, but must exchange tickets by May 31.

The Indians, and their local fans, are used to this sort of situation.

"I feel like it's going to be like this the whole season, man," Indians catcher Yan Gomes said with a laugh. "Last year, I think there were like 16 days in a row it rained or did something. Obviously, you try to get games in, but you can't control the rain."